A Calaveras County Weekend

Calaveras County was the place to be this weekend. It started out on Friday night with Jay Leno doing a segment on last weekend's Calaveras County Frog Jump. Then we had an inch of snow, giving me the opportunity to send in my weather picture to Fox40 (KTXL-TV, Sacramento) and have the deck of the Bradley Lodge shown on air during their 10 pm newscast Saturday night.

Beyond showbiz, we did do some work. We finished cleaning up the property and dug out the fire pits and although we should pass the inspection, we will still need to do some more work. On Sunday we also went to Murphys to wine taste (I watched my nephews, while the others drank), enjoyed a picnic lunch and my sister-in-law allowed my nephews to indulge in some frozen yogurt.

A San Francisco Party

I had the opportunity to attend an amazing conference this week with one of my clients, The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa. Each year the US Travel Association puts on a little conference that draws well over 5,000 to learn about the sites, hotels and everything else the United States has to offer travelers from around the world.

Sunday I started my day with a six mile run and then headed off to Vacaville for some shopping.  A hundred dollars later and a few full bags of clothing from the Gap Outlet and Aeropostale Outlet, I headed to my hotel in San Francisco, located just blocks away from the largest convention center I've ever been to, The Mascone Center. When I arrived at the hotel, where I had stayed a few times before, I got unpacked, changed and started my walk to the hotel where my client was staying, the Sir Francis Drake. On my way I couldn't resist stopping in the Gap flagship store and taking a few pictures of the famous San Francisco Cable Cars.  After a glass of wine at the hotel bar it was off to Pier 39.
I had no idea what to expect, what I got was a red carpet entrance to a private party. Every business on the pier was open, offering free food, drinks, entertainment and so much more. It was incredible to see so many people experiencing one of the many treasures that San Francisco offers both locals and tourists.

Picture from @AndrewGHayes

After a fun night on the pier, Monday was all about work. The convention center was filled with aisle after aisle of booths, each putting their best foot forward for the world's travel buyers to see. Check out this story from the San Francisco Chronicle. As a public relations pro, I was there for another reason, to meet with the hundreds of travel journalists who attend the conference. I made connections with everyone from bloggers to editors of key travel and conference magazines to the travel writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, connections that I would have never been able to make without this conference and that will help me and my client in the future.

I may have missed other parties at the California Academy of Sciences and City Hall, but the time I spent at Pow Wow 2011 was fantastic. I look forward to being able to attend Pow Wow 2012 in Los Angels and Pow Wow 2013 in Las Vegas.

Fire and Snow

Hillside on Sunday

Hillside on Saturday

In what I believe was a first for the Bradley Lodge, we went from raking pine needles and burning them to having snow on the ground within a 12 hour period.

We were incredibly productive on Saturday getting most of our property cleaned up and fire safe (raking all of the pine needles and picking up all the branches that dropped on the ground) and even burned almost all of the needles and branches that we raked. Thinking it wouldn't snow too much, we also drained all the gas from the snow blower (oops). Our picnic table also got a little too much snow on it during one of the last storms, the picture is pretty amazing.

Sunday, we woke up to about 10 inches of snow on the ground and by the time we left around 10:30 in the morning there was a foot of snow and it was still coming down. Once in Lodi we stopped at Rancho San Miguel Market to pick up a carnitas meal for lunch and headed back to my grandma's house. The plan was to watch an abbreviated opening leg of the Amgen Tour of California, unfortunately it was canceled.

Next weekend we will finish raking and burning (assuming all of the snow has melted) and then I'm off to San Francisco for a few days to help a client at Pow Wow.

Mother's Day

I just wanted to say a big "Thank You" to my mom and to all of the other moms and grandmas out there. Being a mom is an often thankless job. Few kids will ever say "thank you" for not letting me do that or "thank you" for disciplining me or "thank you" for making so many things possible in my life. There are not enough "thank yous" for our moms. My mom and dad have sacrificed much to help make me who I am. They have sacrificed luxuries to put me through high school and college, they have sacrificed time to help me in my many moves, they have sacrificed themselves, their dreams, their ambitions to help me and my brother succeed. Thank you.

Below are some pictures from yesterday's Mother's Day celebration at my grandma's house in Lodi.

Cruise'n Review

Packing was just my first adventure. The goal ... fit 13 days worth of clothes into one big bag and keep it under 50 pounds. After succeeding with that, it was off to Florida for a cruise adventure with my parent's and their neighbors. Below is a quick text recap of each day and pictures. I hope you enjoy the memories.

Day 0: After packing, it was off to the airport. We had layovers in Los Angeles and Dallas before finally making it to Fort Lauderdale. On the trip I saw Arco Arena (Power Balance Pavilion) and got another Coca-Cola can to add to a collection of international cans that is at my parent's house.

Day 1: We boarded Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas after sitting in the "Emerald Lounge." Once on board we saw (and used) our first automatic Purell dispenser ... the best way to make sure everyone on the cruise doesn't get sick, use lots of Purell. We unpacked all of our bags and shockingly everything fit in our closet and drawers. My brother and his wife also surprised my mom with a birthday present ... two bottles of wine and a cheese plate were waiting for us in the room, while Royal Caribbean sent a "Welcome Back" basket of snacks. As we left Port Everglades we saw what could be the only Flowrider (wave machine that you can surf on) in someone's backyard, it was kind of amazing, at $1 million a piece the only time I have used one was on a Royal Caribbean ship.

Day 2 and 3:  We enjoyed a relaxing time aboard the Jewel of the Seas, I finished book one (Unbroken), played checkers and of course, ate.

Day 4: After 1,000 nautical miles we made it to Aruba. We went to De Palma Island, home to  a fantastic water park, unlimited food and beverages, and spectacular snorkeling. After our adventure, and my mom's first time on water slides, we walked around town, checked out some jewels and went to a local bar ... where they had free wifi! For you Starbucks fans, yes they do have one of the island. Once back on the ship, we ventured out to an evening pool party, played Uno and enjoyed a poolside dessert buffet.

Day 5: After a few nights of dismal service in the main dining room we were transferred to a new table. Not only did we have amazing service every night in the dining room after the move, we were at the Captain's Table and our waiter was the same one that we had during our 2005 family cruise aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas.

Day 6: The Jewel of the Seas pulled into the spectacular port city of Cartagena, Columbia. We took a city tour to see the "Old City," and many of the other highlights. It was a great experience and a beautiful city. I especially enjoyed a sign that told drivers not to honk their horns.

Day 7: We took a train ride from one side of Panama to the other side and a bus ride back. It's pretty amazing that in about 50 miles you can go from the Caribbean to the Pacific, but it's very possible. We started out on the rails where we went along the famous Panama Canal, then transferred to a bus for a quick tour near Panama City and went to the Miraflores Locks. Seeing a ship using the locks was simply breathtaking and I look forward to eventually being on a ship that goes through the canal, perhaps once the new set of larger locks opens in/around 2014. My mom ventured out on her own to the Gamboa nature preserve where she took an aerial tram ride through the rainforest.

Day 8: Costa Rica = spectacular. We chose to go with a company called Greenway for this tour and didn't go through Royal Caribbean to book our adventure. First my parent's and I swung through the trees on zip-lines, then we went to a banana plantation (as many of you know, I love bananas, so it was nice to see where they come from), took a boat ride in the canals (we saw monkeys, sloths, a caiman - looks like a baby alligator- and the "Jesus Lizard" - it can run across the water).

Day 9: After finishing Radical and Heaven is for Real, I moved on to Water for Elephants and to my surprise I looked up and saw that I was reading the presence of elephants. We also had our second formal night, saw how they make a fruit sculpture and went to a special night for people that cruise with Royal Caribbean a lot (in other words another opportunity for free champagne).

Day 10: I kissed a dolphin in Grand Cayman, along with my mom and their neighbor. It was a really cool experience to swim and play with the dolphins and if you ever have the opportunity I highly recommend it. After swimming with Flipper, we headed across the street to a turtle farm, where we saw some huge and some tiny turtles. Once back downtown we found a picture of William and Kate, so in honor of their pending nuptials decided to take our picture. Since you have the tender into the port I was also able to get some great shots of the Jewel of the Seas and because not everyone went to see the dolphins we all looked at pictures before starting a game of Phase 10.

Day 11: As we headed back to Port Everglades it was time to do everything on the ship that we hadn't done yet. First I participated in a walk with Captain James to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Then climbed the rock wall, played pool (they have self leveling pool tables, kind of freaky to watch, but awesome at the same time) and after eating three desserts we headed to the back of the ship to play some miniature golf.

Day 12: Sadly we had to say goodbye to the Jewel of the Seas after watching the Royal Wedding in our stateroom. In the harbor with us, a US Marine amphibious unit, complete with a few attack ships, a small aircraft carrier for helicopters and a nuclear submarine. Next we boarded the Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi to look at multimillion dollar homes (one home pays $44k a month in property taxes, another pays $2,800 a year for an island that is underwater) and amazing yachts that are worth more that most homes in the world. As we were walking down one of the streets downtown we noticed that they were setting up for a party. I liked the tablecloths and the work side of me liked that they were using QR codes for each of the vendors.

Now I am back home, have done all of my laundry and watched all of the TV that I missed (fast forwarding is a very helpful tool). I cannot wait to plan my next adventure!